Illuminated sign.



No. 881,390. PATENTED MAR. 10, 1908.

- J. w. ELLIS.

ILLUMINATED SIGN. APPLICATION FILED 001'. 2, 1907.

BEST AvAaA-necorr- UNITED STATES EATENT om n JAMES W. ELLIS, OF DENVER,COLORADO, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO ANDREW THOMPSON,

OF DENVER, COLORADO.

, ILLUMINATED SIGN.

Specification of Letters Patent.

' Patented March 10, 1908.

Application filed October 2, 1907. Serial No. 895,580.

the sides 2, and ends 3, and the cross arm I To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES W. ELLIS, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at the city and county of Denver and State ofColorado, have invented a new and useful Illuminated Sign, of which thefollowing is a specification.

-My invention relates to improvements in illuminating si s and theobjects of my invention are: rst, to provide illuminated letters inwhich each letter is formed by a sunken channel or recess, of a fan ordovetail shape, made in the form of the different letters of thealphabet, and formed of any suitable metalin the shape of the letters ofthe alphabet, or sunk orotherwise formed in the surface of a sign boardof wood or any other suitable material. Second, to provide anilluminated signletter that will ive as great an illuminatingcandle-power e ect as any electricallyilluminated letter in use, withone-third of the electric light candle ower. And third, to provide anelectric ight sign letter which will concentrate or focus the lightwithin it into a narrow line of the form of the letter, of greatbrillianey, and which comprises a letter in the form of any letter ofthe alphabet desired, provided with afan or dove-tailed recess, thebottom and sides of which form in outline the frustuiri of a triangle,the apex portion of which forms the shape of the letter, and also theentrance to the letter, and the bottom of which recesss aped letterisprovided with an incandescent electric light at the center and endportions only of each angle of its form, which are positioned whollywithin the recess. I

attain these objects by the mechanism illus tratcd in the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

Figure 1, is a front view of a letter for an illuminated sign,constructed in accordance with my invention. And Fig. 2, is a vertical,sectional view thereof on the line 2--2 of Fig. 1

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 1, designates a'lctte. of thealphabet. I have preferably illustrated my invention embodied in thelt-ttcr A, although my invention contemplates its embodiment in anyletter of the alphabet. The letter is constructcd of any suitablematerial, pri l'crabfv galvanized iron, and is made in the form of theletter desired, and consists ofa back portion2, of preferably the formand shape of the letter to be made from this back portion;

portions 4 are either bent up from or are secured to the back portion bysolder or rivets or other suitable means, and are positioned to rojectat a slight inwardly projecting ange of preferably about towards thecenter of each arm of the letter. That is, the sides of each'limb slopeconvergingly towards each other toward the lengthwise axis of the limbasuflicient and equal amount to form a dove-tailed or fan-shaped letterin cross-section, and a dovetailed or fan;

shaped recess between them, which is open at the top 5, of the sidesthroughout the.

length of the letter; and the'sides and ends and cross arm portions ofthe letter are formed to provide a continuous open space at their topedge ortions, which open space is formed to be t is true form andshapeof the letter desired, and this-entrance space becomes theilluminated letter when the dove-tailed recess of the side and end cross-arm of the letter are illuminated. The sides and ends and cross armportions of the vertical and cross portions of each letter are equallyand evenly inwardly inclined so as to bring the entrance slot of therecess in the center of the width of the different parts of the letter.The rear wall and side ortions of this dove-tailed recess, are provi edwith light reflecting surfaces, which are made by either palnting orglazing them with white paint orenamel or cement or tile or some othersuitable material, orif desired they may be constructed of a lightreflecting material. To the bottom of the inside of the recess, which isthe back or floor of the letter, I secure in the length of each-armportion of the letter, one or lnore incandescent electric lights 6, insuitable apertures formed therein' to receive them, and connect thesocket portions of these lights which project beyond the rear side ofthe letter, by circuit wires to a source of current supply.

It is the present practice in making illuminated letter signs to makeletters the sides of which diverge outward in a V-shape trough form ofletter. This form of letter, however, requires that a sufficient numberof incandescent electric lights be placed along the bottom of theV-shaped trough to form a row of closely positioned lights in order tomake a letter that shall be inforr'n an unbroken outline of light, ofthe ,trne form of the letter; I

\r tailed shaped recess throughout the full cross arm portion.

third of the electric light current per month cess between them, theirfree ends being My invention consists of shaping the sides I and endsand cross arms of the letter that their inside surfaces will reflecttheir light against each other, and concentrate it in the center of thedove-tailed recess between them, and thus present a bright streak oflight of the width of the entrance slot to the dove-tailed recessbetween them, and thus enable just as bright asign letter to be producedwith the use of a very much less number of incandescent-lights, and thusvery materially reduce the cost of the electric current used to supplythe sign, and also reduce the cost of its manufacture. And the signletter embodied in my invention requires but one incandescent light atthe center or central and at the end portions of each arm of the letter;consequently in the letter A I secure to the bottom of the dovetailedrecess one incandescent electric-light at the end portions of thevertical. limbs of the letter, and one at the center of their These fiveelectric lights, which would be in all cases of the same candle power aswould be used in signs of the commonly used form, are all suflicient toreflect and concentrate a bright streak of light the full width of theentrance to the dovelength of the letter, while in the V-shaped troughform in common use about three times as many electric lights of thesamecandle power would be required to produce an equa ly bright illuminatedletter.

In practice I have foundthat a sign of the letters of the form of crosssection embodying my invention, will consume less than oneused in thesame sign of the V-shaped trough form of letter, which makes the cost ofa sign, of my letters two-thirds less per month in amount of electriclight current consumed.

The first cost of construction and material of letters embodying myinvention, is also very materially less than in signs of similar lettersof the commonly used form, as the converging sides make a stiller andstronger sign letter for a given size, and less work is required toplace the lights in them; also about two-thirds less incandescent lightsand wiring are required. Drain. o "enings 7, are formed at the bottom ofthe otters to pernit the escape of rain and melted snow.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent, 1s:

1. An illuminated electric light sign letter, comprising a flat backportion, provided with inwardly converging side and end portionsprojecting from said back and converged towards each other to form adove-tailed respaced at a sufficient distance apart to form a recessbetween them of the outline oflthe letter desired, and narrower than thewidth of the back of the different portions of the letter, and anelectric incandescent light secured to said back portion at the centraland end portions of each limb and arm portions of said letter.

2. An illuminated sign letter, comprising a supporting back portion,sides, and end portions projecting forward from said back portion andconverging towards each other to form a dove-tailed shaped recessportion, having a flat back or wall portion and converging side wall andend wall portions, )1'0- vided with a light reflecting surface, anincandescent electric lights secured to the back .wall within saiddove-tailed recess and operatively connected to a source of electriccurrent supply to illuminate said dove-tailed shaped recess.

3. In an illuminated sign letter, the combination of a lettersupportingsign or back board adapted to permit a letter to be formed in it, with aletter, comprising a dove-tailed shap'ed recess-cf the form of the trueoutlines of the letters of the alphabet desired, said recess having itsnarrowest slot entrance portion at the front or face of the supportingback in which it is formed, and its widest portion at the bottom of saidrecess in said supporting back, and having the sides of sald dove-tailedrecess convergingly inclined towards each other from the bottom of saidrecess to its entrance slot portion and having the inside walls of thisdove-tailed shaped recess provided with a light reflecting surface,electric lights secured'at predetermined distances apart into the rearwall of said dove-tailed recess and arranged to illuminate the rear andside walls of said dove-tailed recess, and circuit wires operativelyconnected to said electric lights and to a supply of electric-current.

4.'A letter for an illuminated sign, comprising a back,,having theoutline of the desired letter, and a projecting rim conforming to theoutline of the letter, which forms, with the back, a channel or chamberopen on its front, the sides of which converge from the back, andincandescent lamps secured to said back within said chamber.

5. A letter for an illuminated sign, comprising a back having theoutline of the de sired letter, and a projecting rim conforming to theoutline of the letter, which forms, with the back, a channel or chamberopen on its front, the sides of which converge from the back, saidchamber being provided with drain openings, and incandescent lamps se-JAMES W'. El'iLlS.

Witnesses V G. SARGENT ELLIOTT. Bnssm TiroMPsoN.

